You Said I Had A Friend
by PhantomSilverCrystal
Summary: [Post-Samurai]: Kevin's having difficulties coping with his new life after the events of Samurai, when an acquaintance comes out of nowhere, in hopes to pursue friendship. Lauren/Kevin friendship and possible romance.
1. Almost

Kevin felt his lungs grow tight in that familiar way he loved so well. He needed oxygen. He didn't want it because, truth be told, the burning at the base of his throat was a high he wasn't ready to surrender, but he knew he couldn't stay under much longer. With an audible gasp, he thrust his head above the water, inhaling greedily before plunging back below the surface. This was going to be a good lap: he could feel it. Ahead of him was the wall, only a few strokes away, seconds maybe, and Kevin smiled internally, knowing he wouldn't need to breathe between where he was and his finish line. The feet turned to inches, and triumphantly, his fingertips grazed the concrete. Returning to the surface world, Kevin sputtered and pulled his goggles up.

"Time?" His gasping voice echoed off the glass ceiling of the indoor training pool. He didn't look at the only other person in the room, because he knew that his father was right where he'd left him. He was sitting at the other end of the lane, grasping the stopwatch with white knuckles.

"Better."

"Good enough for quarterfinals?"

"Almost."

_Almost._ That was quickly becoming Kevin's least favorite word. He was behind schedule as it was and he didn't have time for almost. There were only two weeks until quarterfinals, and he wouldn't make it to semis, let alone the Olympics, if he didn't get way beyond _almost._

Kevin pulled himself up, out of the pool and stole a glance at his father in the bleachers. He seemed proud of his son, but not for the reasons Kevin wanted.

Being a Samurai had always been his father's dream for him, and swimming was just a training exercise. His father wouldn't ever understand why he'd rather be in a pool than a Megazord, but he'd been supportive over the years, encouraging Kevin to be a better swimmer, so long as the Samurai training didn't suffer.

Now, the proud gleam in his father's eye reminded Kevin that his swimming career was still secondary. That pride was not for his last lap, or his hard work; it was for the battles that Kevin was hoping to put behind him. Ever since the war had ended and he had returned home, his father hadn't stopped looking at him with that paternal satisfaction.

"I think that's enough training for today," His father said, scratching the times on to Kevin's training schedule. "You don't want to overdo it."

"Actually," Kevin said, returning to the diving block. "I think I'm going to get another lap or two in."

"Are you sure? It's getting pretty late. I was thinking the two of us could get dinner and you could finally tell me something about your adventures."

"You go, Dad." Kevin forced a smile. "I'll meet up with you in a little bit."

"Okay," his voice wavered. "Kevin, you know that I'm proud of you, don't you?"

"I know, Dad."

Kevin watched as his father collected his things and headed for the door. He sighed, and stretched his arms back over his head. He had no intention of telling his father about his time at the Shiba House. Life had been simpler before he was called to action, and Kevin just wanted that simplicity back.

With a creak, the door opened again, eliciting a small groan from Kevin.

"Dad, I told you, I'll meet up with you later."

"Kevin?" The female voice registered immediately, and Kevin nearly slipped off the diving block in surprise. He turned and saw her, a subconscious smile spreading across his face.

"Lauren! What are you doing here?"

"Well," She laughed. "That's kind of like a hello, but different." Lauren walked a few paces in, surveying the room with each step, as she made her way over to him. "I hope I'm not intruding. The quarterfinals are soon, right? You must be training hard."

"I can take a break." Kevin climbed off his podium, reached for a towel he'd left on the bleachers, and dried his face. He could hardly wrap his mind around it. Lauren. Here. Now. Why? She took a seat on the bleacher bench beside him and looked up at him expectantly. "Hello." He sat beside her.

"Hello." Lauren smiled.

"I don't want to be rude," Kevin began, "but, _really_, what are you doing here? I haven't seen or heard from you in what, two months? Where have you been? After the last battle, you just kind of disappeared."

"About that," Her smile faded at the edges as she dropped her gaze. "I've never been very good at goodbyes, but I'm trying to make up for that now, I guess."

Perplexed, Kevin blinked. "Let me get this straight—you came all the way out here, at eight at night, while I'm training, just so that you could leave properly?"

"No!" Lauren answered defensively. Sighing, she corrected herself. "Well, sort of. I wanted to apologize for that, firstly, and secondly… I know that you're working hard to train, and believe me, I understand that, but when I heard you were here, I just had to come and see for myself. I'm going to be in town for a few days, and I was hoping that you and I could catch up."

"Catch up?" His eyebrows rose skeptically. "We never really got started, did we?"

"I know," she stared out to the pool. "We barely know each other, and that's mostly my fault, but do you remember what you said? The night my brother left?"

Kevin thought back to that night. He had been worried sick about Jayden and his friends, but he couldn't bring himself to leave Lauren's side. It was the same old battle he'd been fighting since the day Mentor Ji's arrow had shot through his old life: following the way of the Samurai, or following his heart. As usual, the Samurai way had seemed to be winning, when Lauren came in.

"It's okay, you know," She'd said. An airplane spelling it out for him could have been a subtler sign from the universe, but he'd treated her encouragement like a test. The powers that be were tempting him with the bait that he could have his cake and eat it, too, but he thought he'd known better. He insisted on staying at the Shiba House.

"You said we were friends." Lauren reminded him. "And I guess I just had this dumb idea that we could be, but I—This was a bad idea." She stood up. "I should go." Swiftly, Lauren was on her feet and headed for the door.

"Wait!" He _had_ said they were friends, and she'd never had one before, so part of Kevin felt terrible for having pushed her away. The other part of him was wondering why she was still wasting his time when the big race was only two weeks away. He sighed, as she looked back at him, wide-eyed. "Now's not exactly a great time, but maybe we could… catch up, tomorrow? We could grab a bite to eat or something?"

"Really?" She asked. He nodded with a half smile. "Okay, I'm staying at the Shiba House. Is it okay if we meet there?"

"Definitely."

**A.N.: I'd like to think that Lauren and Kevin could be friends. I'm not exactly sure where this is going, but I feel like it might be going somewhere?**


	2. Home

The rain pattered against his umbrella as Kevin found himself walking the same way he had for two years. The street hadn't changed in his absence, and neither had the gate. The same sun-bleached concrete wall, emblazoned with the Shiba Family seal, just high enough to keep people from peaking over into the world they had tried to hide.

He smiled to himself, thinking that he was going back home.

When he had first come to the Shiba House, he wanted nothing but to squash the Nighlok out of existence so everything could go back to normal. That first day he'd moved in, Kevin had made up his mind that he would never miss this place. The rigid Samurai lifestyle was the only thing he could cling to for the first few weeks. He told himself that so long as he could keep a schedule and keep it well, he'd never have to think about what he had left behind.

That was when the miracle had happened. He started to enjoy himself.

Sure, there were the obvious downsides to life in the Shiba House. There was a time when he couldn't remember his last warm shower, thanks to Mike's habit of using all the hot water, and maybe he'd suffered through one too many of Mia's cooking experiments, but he'd lived—barely. He wasn't sure when it happened, exactly, but at some point he stopped thinking of the others as his teammates, and started think of them as his friends.

Kevin pushed open the gate and surveyed the front yard. Mentor's immaculate gardens seemed more groomed than usual, and the practice dummy was nowhere in sight. He wondered to himself if Jayden had dragged it in because of the rain or if he even used it all, anymore. As he approached the door, he closed his umbrella, the blue plastic spraying him with rain. He knocked loudly, hoping that someone would hear him over the downpour.

Seconds later, the large wooden door opened, revealing Mentor Ji, who looked back at him with a look of confusion. Kevin smiled anyway.

"Kevin?"

"Mentor!" He couldn't contain his excitement. It was funny how this sort of thing happened—he hadn't realized how much he had missed Ji until he saw him. "It's so good to see you! Is that a new yutaka?"

"I wasn't expecting you." Ji sounded confused as he looked out into the rain over Kevin's shoulder. "Oh, where are my manners? Come in, come in. I'll put on some tea."

"I'm sorry¸ I thought you knew I'd be here." Kevin wondered why Lauren hadn't said anything as he followed him into the foyer, setting the umbrella by the door. He found himself walking past the mats, overwhelmed with memories of this house. The mystery of the training dummy was solved as it was sitting in the corner of the living room.

"You're welcome here anytime." Ji reassured him, stopping in the living room where he had briefed Kevin and the team on so many before. "I'll be right back, make yourself at home." Ji left Kevin to his memories, before pressing on to the kitchen.

Kevin smiled to himself before taking a seat. He didn't need to make himself at home: he was already there.

"You always were Mentor's favorite," a familiar voice sounded from the kitchen doorway. "Besides me, of course."

"Jayden!" Kevin stood up again, surprised to see Jayden in flannel pajamas, clutching a bowl of cereal. He looked so out of place, like the time when Kevin was a child and had seen his second grade teacher at the supermarket. In all their time together, Kevin had never seen his leader look so relaxed.

"Hey, Kev," Jayden smiled. "Lauren said you were dropping by. I'm glad to see you could take a little time out of your busy training schedule to pay us a visit."

"Look who's talking!" Kevin laughed. "What have you been up to?"

"Oh, you know." He shrugged.

"Let me guess, practicing?"

It was Jayden's turn to laugh. He shook his head with a smirk. "Very funny. I've been… Trying new things. I'm reading more, Ji's teaching me guitar and I've actually been doing a little teaching, myself."

"You're teaching?" Kevin raised his eyebrows, getting a mental image of Jayden standing before a group of children trying to get them to mimic his symbol power strokes. He was sure that Jayden would be a good teacher: patient, but disciplined. However, he wondered what he could possibly teach.

"Yeah. I've been taking classes at the rec center pretty much since the day everyone left," Jayden began to explain. "I'm trying to be more well-rounded. Recently, I was asked to teach a beginners fencing class. It's mostly for kids with nowhere to go after school, so it feels like I'm giving back, you know?"

"That's great, Jayden. I'm sure you're a wonderful teacher."

"He is," Lauren said, entering from the other side of the room. "I sat in on his class the other day. You should see the way the kids look up to him. We're all so proud."

"Morning, Laurie," Jayden smiled as his sister ruffled his hair before taking a seat next to Kevin.

"You do know it's afternoon, don't you?" She laughed as Kevin sat beside her.

"Still feels like morning to me," he shrugged.

"Jayden's really taken a liking to the whole relaxation thing," Lauren explained, turning to Kevin.

"I can see that," He smiled. He was glad. After everyone had gone their separate ways, Kevin had been especially worried about Jayden. He knew that the whole of Jayden's life was spent pursuing excellence in the way of the Samurai, but now that the Nighlok army had fallen, Kevin wondered what he would do. This new, more laid-back lifestyle seemed to fit him. It was something he deserved.

Lauren suddenly turned to him, looking on expectantly. "Are you ready to go?"

"Go?" Jayden asked. "You guys are going out?"

At that moment, Mentor Ji walked back in, carrying a tea tray with a kettle and four cups. "Leaving so soon? I thought you were staying for tea."

"Yeah," Jayden cut in. "You just got here, Kev. Stay for tea."

He looked to Lauren who shrugged, putting the ball in his court. He could tell that she wanted to leave, but it had been so long since he had a good conversation with his former leader and mentor. Devising a compromise, he looked back to her. "One cup?"

"Okay," She answered. "But just one."

Ji set the tray on the table, as he and Jayden sat. "Lauren, why didn't you tell me that Kevin was coming?" He began to pour the tea and pass the cups out.

"That's because she wanted to keep him all to herself," Jayden smiled, taking a sip from his cup.

"That's not true!" Lauren exclaimed. Turning back to Kevin, she explained. "When I got back from the pool last night, Mentor was already asleep."

"You make me sound like an old man," Mentor said, pouring his own tea. Jayden almost choked on his, stifling a laugh. "What was that, Jayden? Did you have something you wanted to say?"

"Hm? What? No," Jayden cleared his throat, recovering from the incident. He quickly changed the subject. "Kevin, I read in the paper that you've been entered into the Olympic qualifiers."

"Oh, you read that article?" Kevin asked, slightly embarrassed. He was hoping no one had read the interview he'd given _The Panorama Prophet_. Words were never his strong suit. "Yeah, I am. You have no idea how great it is to be back in training, well, swimming anyway. It's… indescribable."

"Your father must be so proud," Mentor said with a smile.

"Um, he is," He muttered. Though he was sure Ji hadn't meant anything by it, Kevin had to check that the subject of his father wouldn't noticeably upset him. Deciding to change the subject once more, he wracked his mind for something relevant. "Did I tell you that I got a post card from Antonio?"

"We did, too," Jayden answered.

"We did?" Lauren asked, suddenly looking a little flushed.

"Oh," Her brother scratched at the back of his neck. "I forgot. It was before you got back, but he said to say hello. I'm sorry, I guess it just slipped my mind."

"Where is he?" She asked.

"Last I heard," Kevin jumped in. "He was in Australia."

"In his last letter, he said he'd be home by the end of the month." Ji added.

"Wait," Jayden sounded confused. "He writes you letters? He doesn't write me letters!"

"I've been getting letters from most everyone," he explained.

"Really? I haven't gotten more than a postcard from anyone…"

"Me either," Kevin sighed. "Well, actually, that's not really true. Mia sent me a package, last month. She sent cookies for my birthday, and get this—they were edible!" There was a collective laugh as he took a sip of his tea.

"It was your birthday?" Lauren asked, seeming upset. "I'm sorry I missed it."

"Oh, it's okay," he assured her. "I don't usually celebrate it, anyway."

"We better get going," she said, but he could tell that she felt bad about not knowing his birthday. Maybe it wasn't just that. Maybe she was upset that she was so far out of the loop, but he reminded himself that it was a two way street.

"Really?" Jayden asked again. "You haven't even touched your tea, Laurie."

"I'm sure that Kevin has other things to do besides hanging around here all day." Lauren spoke for him.

"She's right," He said, with an apologetic smile as he and Lauren got to their feet. "And we did make plans, after all. Maybe we can all talk again some other time."

"Don't be a stranger," Mentor called after them, but Lauren was already leading him out the front door.


End file.
